Probably a minute, maybe two go by, and when I look back up in the stands, Becca is gone. Her friends are still there, but she's left. My good luck charm has walked away, and I don't know how to get a hold of her. That's not going to work for me. I fight my way through the crowd, determined to talk to one of her friends and find out how I can talk to Becca again. Because forgetting about her is not an option.
Chapter 4
Becca
"I can't believe that you didn't want to stick around," Emery says. She's pretty much said the same thing in ten different ways the whole ride home. We’re almost back in Whiskey Run, so for the last forty-five minutes all she’s wanted to talk about was the cowboy that obviously liked me—her words—and me just leaving. That's right. As soon as Lucas won his event, I was ready to get out of there. All I knew was I had to go.
Deciding that it's time to get off the topic of me and my life, I turn toward Emery. "Oh yeah? Did you see that Nash was there?"
She shrugs her shoulders like it's not a big deal. "Nash is everywhere."
"He wants you back," I tell her.
She opens her mouth, but before she can deny it, my phone is ringing. I dig it out of my purse and see Violet's name on the caller ID. "It's Violet," I tell Emery as I answer the phone. "Hey, is everything okay?"
"Don't be mad" are her first words to me. Instantly, I prepare myself for what could possibly be about to happen. Nothing good comes when the first sentence is Don’t be mad.
"Don't be mad at you?" I repeat. "What happened?"
"I gave Lucas your number." I gasp and look over at Emery. "Violet gave Lucas my number." I barely get the words out and Emery is laughing. "Way to go, Violet," she says loudly so that Violet can hear her.
"Why would you do that?" I ask her.
She laughs. "Because he wanted it, and you can deny it all you want, but I saw the way you were checking him out."
I gasp. "I was not."
Violet laughs, and I swear it’s like I can see her rolling her eyes at me. "Whatever. Are you mad at me?"
I let out a breath. "I can never be mad at you, Violet." It's the truth. Violet has been a good friend to all of us, and there's no way that I can get mad at her over something like this.
We talk a little more about the event and about Matt and April, and then we hang up. Emery's excited the rest of the way home, wanting to talk about Lucas. But I keep changing the subject to Nash.
She drops me off at home, and I tell her I'll see her at work the next day. I'm barely in the door, setting my purse down when my phone rings. Cautiously, I pick it up and look at the caller ID. It's not a number that I have programmed into it. My stomach tightens. I could easily just let it go to voicemail, but I force myself to answer.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Becca." His voice is deep, and it causes a pull in my lower belly. "Hi." I answer him almost breathlessly and then shake my head, embarrassed. "I mean, hi, who is this?"
He laughs. "This is Lucas. I got your number from your friends."
I sit down on the couch, kicking my shoes off, and inspect my ankle. Thankfully, it’s not swollen and is already feeling better. "So is this your thing? At each event you go to, you pick a girl to hit on?"
He doesn't even laugh. "No, actually, I've never done this before."
I roll my eyes and mutter, "Right" because there's no way I'm going to believe that.
He’s quiet, and I know he heard me. "Look, I know we just met, and you're not going to trust me right off the bat. But how about we get to know each other a little bit?"
I know I should tell him I'm not interested and just hang up. But I figure what's it going to hurt if I talk to him a little bit, maybe just see what he's about?
"Congratulations on your win."
"Thank you. I told you that you were going to be my good luck charm."
I laugh then. "Oh, yeah? So are you saying you didn't win your last event?"
He sounds cocky as he answers. "Oh, I won, but this performance was definitely better than any I've done before."
"It's dangerous, isn't it?" I say it easily, but there's an underlying fear underneath it. It's not like I want him to think I'm worried about him or anything. I mean, we did just meet.
"Yeah, but I've been doing it for a long time. What about you? What do you do?"